Furthest you've driven in a day

What is the furthest you've driven your Tacoma in a day? How long did it take?

I'm thinking of buying a puppy from an out of state breeder that is ~600 miles away. Anyone have experience bringing a puppy or a dog home over a long distance?

 

When I first started driving, the planning factor was an average of 50 miles per hour. I tried to stop every 3 hours. Things have changed (55mph speed limit everywhere went away, cars can reliably drive faster, etc). I’ve driven 1000 miles by myself many times in one shot. I don’t like to do that anymore, but will if required.

With a dog, I’d plan to stop every 2 hours. Fold the back seat down flat. Having a cage would be best, depending on what breed you’re looking into. If a cage won’t fit, put a bed down and I’d recommend a passenger to help keep the dog from distracting the driver.

 

Don't buy from a breeder, adopt! It'll help the local shelters in your area and the puppy you adopt will be grateful that you did.

 

I enjoy long distance driving! My personal best is as follows: I departed Manchester, NH on Friday at 2:30 p.m. I arrived in San Diego California at 9:00 a.m. on Monday Morning. 3030 miles. Would have been faster but stopped in St. Louis and visited Gateway Arch, and had dinner with my brother in Phoenix, AZ. I have found the key to long distance driving is letting your body determine when enough is enough and listening! I plan to drive half a tank of gas and then stop and top up. That means about 200 miles. Approximately 3 hrs. Stop, gas up. stretch, etc. My goal is to make 60 miles per hour over time. So for your trip it is 10 planned driving hrs. It will likely be more like 8.5 or 9 in reality. Timing the drive is important to me. If I want to do it in what seams to me like two easy days round trip if it is just to do something quick like you are planning ( a pick up) I will usually leave late afternoon of day one and plan to arrive about 12 p.m. Then I can sleep (either in the truck or hotel) and get to the business early. Try to be on the road again by 10 or 11 so the trip home ends earlier.

I just drove from New Hampshire to Jacksonville Fl. straight through at Thanksgiving. Left at 5:30 p.m. and stopped to sleep in a rest area in Virginia at 12:30 p.m. for four hours and arrived in Jacksonville at 2:30 p.m.

Second the idea of a dog crate for puppy travel. May be a good idea if you can put it in the front seat because the puppy may travel better if it can see you and not think it is alone. Puppy care will slow you down some. Adjust accordingly.

 

I drove 3 hours to pick up a Golden-doodle puppy for my wife. We strapped a small travel kennel lined with plush towels in the middle of the back seat where we could keep an eye on him. The little fellow slept the entire trip home!

Six hours is a long haul in one shot but definitely doable. Good luck and congrats on the new pup. Be sure to post a picture when you get him home.

 

Tonopah, NV to home that is a bit north of Seattle in one long day. About 970mi. The Taco made it happen. It was very comfortable.

 

My personal experience with shelter dogs is there is usually a good reason the dog is there. Never again! Glad there are folks like you that adopt from shelters, but I prefer buying quality breeds from reputable breeders

 

Furthest in a day was in my wrx- Connecticut to St Pete Fla- 1200 miles.

Furthest in my Tacoma was Conway Arkansas to Connecticut -1150 or so.

Both straight shots

Longest trip to get a doggo- CT to Glen Cove NY -75 miles- for my buddy bear.

 

Drove to Carmel Indiana over 5000 miles round trip twice with our 14yo poodle mix . Trick is to stop for gas and walk the dog every 2 hours . Having a comfortable dog bed at the back seat helps . Bring doggie poop bags and water. That’s it. No need to overthink.

 

I left San Francisco Friday afternoon around 2 or 3 PM. It took longer than expected to fill out my paperwork. I was home in Fort Collins Colorado by 1 PM Saturday.. 1184 miles

 

Stop off at the local pet store first and pick up some puppy pads. If you were local I’d give you the box we have. Line the crate/box for the dog and then try and stop every hour and let the dog out. Small puppies can only hold their bladder for about that long and the smaller the crate the less likely they’ll mess in it.

the biggest thing I recommend is once you bring the puppy home, try and bond with it, treats and love. A 600mi road trip is stressful enough for humans, let alone a dog. And if you want the dog to be a travel companion the worst thing would be to have it hate your truck because of its first experience in it.

 

1048 miles, took 16 hours. All interstate, one sit down meal, everything else was behind the wheel.

 

Piss out the window?

 

I have driven 1100 miles in a day (about 15 hours) many times but when I did that same trip one time transporting a puppy I broke it into 2 days. I made lots of stops to get the puppy out of her crate to walk and do her business. Puppy slept in her crate in the hotel room.

So you should be able to 600 miles like that... just plan to take longer than normal... and plan to make lots of friends at the rest stops. People love to see puppies.

 

LOL Nope, gas every 3 or 4 hours, quick piss, grab a snickers and a milk and go.

 

That still doesn’t explain if it was out the window or not….

 

I’ve done 600 miles in one day (a few times) in my Tacoma. It took about 12 hours with stops for gas/food/bathrooms + one border crossing (Canada). No dogs on that trip.

The farthest I’ve driven in one day with my 2 dogs in the truck has been about 350 miles. Took around 7 hours with stops and traffic. My dogs don’t mind road trips but they’re used to it at this point. It probably would be rough with a puppy but I can’t tell you from experience, maybe it would just sleep the whole time.

 

Used to drive home to Maine every few months for leave when I was stationed in Virginia. Something like 750 miles in one shot. Sucked but doable.

Cant speak for the tolerance of your new pup though. I drove my sister an hour away to get her teacup yorkie puppy, it lasted ten minutes before it puked all over my sister’s lap and my passenger footwell allllll the way back home.

 

Will be driving Denver to Tucson next week. Just a hair over 900 miles. Go pretty much every Christmas. Myself, Wife, Daughter and two 70lb Golden Doodles. Of course we take our outback as that all does not fit in a Tacoma. Daughter and the Doodles share the bac seat. Since Subies have a lot of rear seat leg room I stick a couple blankets to fill the space in front of the dogs so they can sprawl Stop 3-4 times for fuel and potty breaks. Both dos just go to sleep and nap most of the way

 

1000 miles, Clarksville Tennessee to Brookings south Dakota for a wedding. Took 15 hours, saw a bald eagle that day which was sweet. And saw my first 80mph speed limit sign. Truck was stock then so ride was nice. What kind of dog you getting? My dogs liked the rear seat hammock for when we'd make the 600 mile trip from TN to NC.